2014’s Rockford homicide rate outpacing 2013’s

ROCKFORD — Douglas Johnson, 18, became the city’s sixth homicide victim Monday, when he was shot multiple times outside a residence near Cameron and North Rockton avenues.

Rockford police detectives have identified a juvenile suspect, but no arrest has been made.

“Apparently there was a dispute or an argument” of an unidentified origin, Deputy Chief David Hopkins said. “It does not appear related to gangs.”

Because of the age of the suspect, Hopkins said he could not identify him.

The yellow crime-scene tape was gone Tuesday. Parents waited in vehicles at Cameron and Darwood Drive ready to pick up their children from the school bus. Jasmine Phillips, Johnson’s girlfriend and mother of their 9-month-old daughter, Cattleya, stood in her relative’s driveway next to a vehicle damaged by gunfire.

She lost her “everything” Monday.

“He loved his daughter, and he loved me,” she said. “He got his GED. He got it for me and his daughter and himself. He was getting ready to start going to Rock Valley College in June. He wanted to marry me and everything. Now he’s gone.”

Phillips said her boyfriend loved to dress sharp, enjoyed action movies and believed he had no rivals on the hardwood: “He would be bragging on how he could play basketball better than anyone else.”

Wednesday is Phillips’ 21st birthday. There won’t be a celebration. Instead, a candlelight vigil is planned for 5 p.m. at the scene of the slaying.

Johnson’s death came two days after an anti-violence march on the Sinnissippi bike path and two days before the ninth annual Carol McFeggan Homicide Victim Memorial Service at Riverside Community Church, 6816 N. Second St. in Machesney Park. The service honors victims of violent crimes in Winnebago County.

2014 is off to a bloody start in Rockford. Six people have been killed so far, compared with three through the end of April 2013.

By the end of 2013, Rockford logged 22 homicides, driven by a violent summer.

A 46-year-old woman whose body was found Sunday in the Kishwaukee River is, most likely, Winnebago County’s second homicide victim this year, Deputy Chief Sheriff Dominic Iasparro said.

The county logged three homicides last year.

An uptick in violent crime is expected as spring and summer kick in. Hopkins said police plan to step up their presence and increase patrols in known hot spots.

“During the warmer months, there is always an increased police presence,” he said.